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OTTAWA — The bulk of B.C.-destined debris from Japan’s tsunami disaster in March of 2011 is expected to arrive on the province’s shores in early 2013, but chances are remote that any material will be radioactive, according to the federal government.

The debris moved away from Japan’s shores several days before radioactive material was released from the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant, and only a small percentage of the debris originates from the Fukushima area, Health Canada said in documents tabled in Parliament this week.

“For any items that were contaminated, prior to arriving on Canada’s West Coast much of the contamination would have been removed through degradation and dispersion of the material at sea,” the department said in response to questions from B.C. New Democrat Peter Julian.

The report rebuts a warning earlier this month from provincial New Democratic Party MLA Scott Fraser, who suggested B.C. could face dire consequences due to an allegedly lax response to the debris issue by the federal and provincial governments.

Both governments “have a responsibility to ensure the aftermath of that horrible disaster in Japan doesn’t become a disaster for West Coast communities,” he told a Vancouver Island newspaper.

Julian said the government’s response is unconvincing since it indicates Ottawa has so far spent only $11,000 on ocean radioactivity sampling. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has set aside $600,000 for cleanup, while Washington State Gov. Christine Gregoire said in June that her state will set aside at least $100,000.

“The Americans are taking this seriously, the Canadian government isn’t,” Julian said.

The documents tabled in response to Julian’s questions show numerous federal departments have been working with B.C. ministries as well as U.S. state officials on plans to deal with the debris moving slowly across the ocean.

The bulk of the B.C.-destined debris — mostly in small chunks — will begin arriving in the first half of 2012 and peak around March 2014. It will remain present along the coast for at least three years after that at reduced levels, the documents state.

But some debris has already made the journey.

Plastic and Styrofoam from the disaster has been routinely spotted along the U.S. and Canadian coastlines for months, and some larger pieces, such as a fishing vessel spotted in Alaskan waters in March, a Harley-Davidson motorcycle that landed in Haida Gwaii in April and a massive dock that arrived on the Oregon coast in June, signal more substantial pieces may be on the way.

According to a study from Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the majority of the debris landing on the North American coast will arrive on the shores of Washington, Oregon, and California.

However more than 90 per cent of the debris that left Japan may never wash ashore even after five years, the report said, and is instead expected to circulate in the “North Pacific Garbage Patch” — a large expanse of ocean northeast of Hawaii where floating ocean junk, especially plastics, tends to accumulate due to wind-driven current patterns.

A Tsunami Debris Coordinating Committee co-chaired by Environment Canada and the B.C. environment ministry is working with B.C. municipal governments, first nations, U.S. federal and state governments, and other stakeholders on plans to deal with the arrival of the debris, the government documents said.

Several national and provincial parks on Haida Gwaii and the west coast of Vancouver Island are already participating in a debris monitoring program.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), meanwhile, is still testing food imports from Japan to ensure no food products — especially seafood — are contaminated.

The CFIA issued a preliminary report last spring saying that tests of imported Japanese food products and domestically produced milk in B.C. showed radiation levels below the Health Canada threshold for required action.

But the documents tabled in the House of Commons noted that the agency will be studying Japanese food products in Vancouver during the 2012-13 fiscal year as part of a semi-regular Health Canada analysis of contaminants in Canada’s food supply that began in 1969.

“The CFIA with Health Canada continues to monitor food for radionuclides through the Total Diet Study (TDS). For 2012-13 the focus will be on testing food products from Japan, in the Vancouver area.”

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Japanese tsunami debris bound for B.C. not likely radioactive: government